Japan (Men) and Australia (Women) win FIBA 3x3 U18 Asia Cup 2019 in Malaysia; Recap with India's results

The 5th edition of FIBA 3x3 U18 Asia Cup was held at the Gem-In Mall in Cyberjaya, Malaysia, from August 22-24. On the final day on Saturday, Japan's Men and Australia's Women emerged as the best of the best to claim the gold. India also participated: India's women's team made the Quarter-Finals and finished at an encouraging 7th place; India's Men fell in the Qualifying Round to finish 13th.

Japan were dominant throughout the tournament, and finished with an easy win in the Men's final, 21-13.

In the women's category, Australia had a perfect 5-0 record and dominated Japan in the final with a decisive 21-10 victory.

Japan's Seishin Yokochi was named Men's MVP after a game-high 9 points in the final. The women's MVP was Australia's Shyla Heal, who hit a game-high 8 points in the final.

Philippines won the women's bronze medal with a 14-11 win over China. The men's bronze went to China, who beat Australia 21-17.

India fielded a talented squad for the women's team, featuring experienced youngster Pushpa Senthil Kumar, Khushi Dongre, Sreekala Rani, and rising star Harsimran Kaur. India made it past the qualifying round with a dominant first win over Maldives (21-4) and a couple of impressive close finishes to defeat Thailand (17-13) and Chinese Taipei (17-15).

The squad moved on to Pool C of the main tournament, alongside Turkmenistan and New Zealand. India decimated Turkmenistan in an impressive 21-4 showing, but lost in a nail-biter to NZ, 16-14.

India's run came to an end in the Quarter-Final, where they lost to a stacked China squad, 22-3. They finished the tournament at 7th place.

India's men's team featured a group of experienced young players, led by Princepal Singh, Harshwardhan Tomar, Rajveer Singh Bhati, and Rajeev Kumar. India were in Qualifying Draw B with Maldives, Chinese Taipei, and Australia. India won their first two games, beating Maldives (20-5) and Chinese Taipei (21-16). But their journey concluded to the mighty Australians, who defeated them 19-15.

Final Standings

Men

• 1. Japan
• 2. Kazakhstan
• 3. Australia
• 4. China
• 5. Philippines

Women

• 1. Australia
• 2. Japan
• 3. Philippines
• 4. China
• 5. New Zealand

Teams of the Tournament

Men

• Seishin Yokochi (Japan) - MVP
• Daniel Foster (Australia)
• Arsentiy Kushniruk (Kazakhstan)

Women

• Shyla Heal (Australia) - MVP
• Saori Yasue (Japan)
• Kristine Cayabyab (Philippines)

Indonesia (Women) and China (Men) win 2017 FIBA 3x3 U18 Asia Cup

Indonesia’s women and China’s men struck gold in the third edition of the FIBA 3x3 U18 Asia Cup, held in the Gem-In Shopping Mall in Cyberjaya, Malaysia from May 26-28, 2017. Both of India's teams lost on the first day of the tournament in the qualifying round.

After dropping their first preliminary round game, Indonesia's Women won four straight to get the gold medal, including a dominant performance in the final against hosts Malaysia, 13-6.

In the men’s category, China’s men won gold after defeating Chinese Taipei in the final 17-12.

India's junior boys and girls teams started the tournament in qualifying groups but failed to qualify for the preliminary round stage. The junior boys lost their first game against Lebanon 12-18 and went on to lose their second game against Turkmenistan 9-20 to finish with a 0-2 record in the tournament. The junior women finished the tournament 1-1 as they beat Turkmenistan 21-9 but fell to Chinese Taipei 17-12

Final Standings

Women

• 1. Indonesia
• 2. Malaysia
• 3. China

Men

• 1. China
• 2. Chinese Taipei
• 3. Qatar

China's Hoanan Li and Indonesia's Lea Kahol were named MVPs of the tournament.

India’s Junior Boys and Girls teams all set to participate in the FIBA 3x3 U18 Asia Cup 2017 in Malaysia

Continuing to ride the wave of the growing popularity of 3x3 basketball, India have sent their junior boys and girls squads to Cyberjaya, Malaysia, to take part in the third edition of the FIBA 3x3 U18 Asia Cup 2017. The tournament will be held between 26-28 May and will see 32 teams (16 each for men and women) competing to be crowned Asia’s best.

India have a strong history at this tournament. At the very first FIBA Asia U18 3x3 held in Thailand in 2013, India's boys and girls both came home with silver medals. However, India didn't play in last year's edition of this tournament, which was won by Qatar (Boys) and Japan (Girls).

India will be starting from a point of disadvantage this time around, as both our boys and girls teams have to go through a qualifying round first before being eligible to make it to the group stage of the championship. The men will be going up against Turkmenistan and Lebanon while the women will face Chinese Taipei and Turkmenistan. If the teams were to top their pool and qualify, the men will be placed in pool with defending champions Qatar while the women would be placed in a pool against Japan – an Asian powerhouse, who also are the defending champs.

Boys Qualifying Draw 1: Turkmenistan, India, Lebanon.
Girls Qualifying Draw 1: Turkmenistan, India, Chinese Taipei.

India’s Schedule [Timings in IST]

Men

• 26-05-17: India (14) vs Lebanon (15) (8:05 am)
• 26-05-17: India (14) vs Turkmenistan (8) (8:45 am)

Women

• 26-05-17: India (14) vs Turkmenistan (15) (8:25 am)
• 26-05-17: India (14) vs Chinese Taipei (15) (9:05 am)

The matches can be streamed live on FIBA 3x3’s YouTube channel. The link: https://www.youtube.com/FIBA3x3

The selection trial for this event was held on 21st April 2017 at the National Basketball Academy – Indore, Madhya Pradesh. Former Olympian Dilip Gurumurthy of Karnataka will be leading the boys while girls are being led by Indian Railways’ Jeena Zachariah. "The tournament is going to be a great learning experience for our players. We hope that the exposure they get due to such opportunities help them develop their game and become better as players," said Gurumurthy. "We have been seeded against two of the better teams (Turkmenistan and Chinese Taipei) of the tournament. We aim to give it our best and hope to qualify for Pool C," said Zachariah.

India's Squads for 2017 FIBA 3x3 U18 Asia Cup

Men

• Bhagyansh Gulati
• Prashant Tomar
• Prince Pal Singh
• Sejin Mathew
• Coach: Dilip Gurumurthy

Women

• Ishwarya Janardhanan
• Sreekala Rani
• Vaishnavi Yadav
• Harshitha Kelttira Bopaiah
• Coach: Jeena Zachariah